Structural assembly and method of making the same



a. EJsHI'PWAY STRUCTURAL ASSEMBLY AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Sept. 10, 1935 Milly 3, 1938.

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PATENT OFFICE 'STRUCTURAL ASSEMBLY AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAltfl'J George E. Shipway, Daricn, Noroton, Com, as-

aignor to JohnsqManvillc Corporation, New York, N. Y., a. corporation of New York Application September 10, 1935, Serial No. 39,885

This invention relates to a Structural assembly adapted for use as siding of; a building and the method of making the'same.

In the making of siding assemblies, such as those having units arrangedin .the manner of clapboards, it has been custbmary, heretofore, to use a supporting substructure including studs and sheathing, with the clapboard units secured over the substructure and forming horizontal overlaps between adjacent courses of the units. When rain penetrates the joints between adjacent courses of the clapboards or the vertical Joints between abutting units in a given course, the water may run downward; uninterruptedly, be-

tween the sheathing and the clapboard facing. There has been another disadvantage in the use of composition boarding that, because of the cost for a given thickness, is commonly available only in clapboardelike units that are relatively'thin, as compared with lumber conventi nally used for the purpose. Namely, when such thin units, of a hardened composition of asbestos and Portland cement or the. like, for example, are assembled, as formerly, in the manner of clapboards, the thinness. of the units 1112- creases the amount of offset between adjacent courses and reduces the resulting shadow effect. to such an extent that artiflciaiity of the structural material is indicated.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a siding assembly overcoming the disadvantages stated above. Other objects and advanillustrated in the attached drawing andtlieilntages will appear from the detailed description that follows.

The'in'vention comprises the novel features of the assemblv. water-impermeable sealing member, andmethod of making the assembly. hereinafterdescribed and illustrated, particularly the means for overcoming the said disadvantages oi conventional assembliegw- "A preferred embodiment of the invention is vention will be described in connection therewith.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of 9. Siding assembly made in accordance with the presentinventlon, partly broken away for clearness t illustra tion. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view on line 2-1 of Fig. 1. j

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view' on line 3-4 of Fig.- 2.

The sectional views, Figs. 2 and 3, are on a somewhat enlargedscale as compared with the;

scale of the other figures.

In the various figures like reference characters denote like parts. 7

There is shown an assembly, adapted for use as the siding of a building or the like, comprising a supporting substructure including studs I that may be wood and units of facing material ar-e "ranged as a plurality of courses 2 and 3, the lower edge of an upper or succeeding course overlapping the upper edge of a lower or preceding course, as illustrated at position 4 (Fig. 1) and 10 as shown in greater detail in Fig. 2. Within a given course there may be a plurality of facing units displaced horizontally with respect to each other and meeting in flush relationship, to form a vertical joint or joints 51 The facing units may be of any suitable type, say, of the asbestos-cement composition previously described. They may be thin, say, about to inch in thickness. The units are preferably' semifiexible, that is, they may be slightly bowed by the means described below. t;

Disposed between thefacing units and the sub structure is water-impermeable sheet material 6, as, for example, asphalt-impregnated rag felt of the type commonly used as roofing paper or so-ca'lled asphalt shingles. This sheet material is flexible and may be folded to give an article possessing appreciable resilience or tendency to straighten out at the position of bending. In my improved assembly, this material constitutes a weather-tight seal that is-suitably continuous over the substructure except at positions at which the'edges of two strips of the material are Plied togethe? as shown at I. Each strip of this material has a folded portion 8 along the top and-a folded portion 9 along the bottom. The folded portions 8 and 9 extend between the overlapping horizontal joint portions ofadjacent courses of facing units with a folded portion 9 of one strip inserted behind the folded portion 8 of the next 40 lower strip. The main portions of the said strips of material are continuous with the folded portions and extend'continuo'usly behind the facing units and the vertical joints 5 therebetween, the sheet material thus forming a sheathing extending between the substructure and all parts of individual ones of the facing units,

-With such a sealingmemberused in my assemblyrwater that penetrates through the V81!- tical joints 5 is deflected to the outside-of the imize rattling and penetration by wind or rain and to prevent a drumming sound when the assembly is struck. Also, the gasket spaces the butt of the units of the overlying course from the underlying course, to give increased shadow effect andappearance of thickness of the facing units, particularly when the folded portion extending between the several courses is of multiply thickness, as illustrated. Finally, this shadow effect is increased and the flexible sealing material is caused to contact closely with the overlapping portions of adjacent courses, when a folded portion of the sheet material is disposed in the h0rizontal joints, because each bend causes thematerial on the two sides of the bend to spread apart and contact resiliently with facing units of the courses 2 and 8.

The means securing the water-impermeable sheet material and the facing units to the substructure are preferably nails or the like. Thus, the water-impermeable material may be secured to the substructure by large-headed tacks or roof ing nails ill extending through the sheet material and into the stud, at a position behind the rear or lower course at a horizontal joint. The said rear course is secured as by nails II to the substructure. These nails ii are driven, also, at the horizontal joint portion but preferably do not extend through the sheet material disposed in the Joint, whereby the sheet material is preserved imperforate and, therefore, is adapted to shed water more certainly than if penetrated by the means I I. Also, there is a considerable space between. the position of the fastening means II and the upper edge of the unit constituting the lower course. When a facing unit is held tightly against the substructure, as by firm driving of the nail ii the facing unit is slightly bowed inwardly toward the position of nailing, this causing the lower edge portion of the facing unit (which extends over and outside a lower course) 'to be deflected away from the substructure and to give thus an attendant increase in the desired shadow effect at the exposed horizontal joint.

The nails Ii have preferably a wide head and pass throughpreformed holes I2 in the facing units.

The preformed holes I! may be slots having each their longest dimension approximately parallel to the general direction of extent of the overlapping portions of the adjacent courses of facing units. In other words, the holes are oversize in one direction but narrow in the direction of the width of the overlapping portions, so that the amount of overlap required to extend safely below the holes is minimized and, on the other hand, lateral shifting of the units, as on expansion or contraction, is permitted.

Finishing nails H, such as those of cadmiumplated steel, or like means may be used to hold the facing units to the substructure at positions below those of the nails ii. The nails I! may penetrate the exposed portions of the units, suit ably, at positions near to but slightly above the overlap between adjacent courses.

The details that have been given are for the purpose of illustration, not restriction. It is intended, therefore, that variations within the spirit of theinvention are to be included within the scope of the appended claims. 1

What I claim is: 1.\A siding assembly -of a building comprising a supporting substructure, units of facing material arranged in a plurality of horizontal courses having overlapping portions between the lower edge of one course and the upper edge of a lower course and including in each course a plurality of the facing units meeting end to end, in flush relationship, to form a vertical joint, water-impermeable flexible sheet material disposed between the supporting substructure and the facing units and forming a continuous sheathing between allparts of individual ones of the said units and the substructure, a portion of the sheet material extendtweenthe said overlapping portions of the facing units being in the form of folds having multiply thickness and being adapted to spread apart at theposition of bending, whereby the overlapping portions of the facing units are spaced substantially from each other and the folded material is causedv to contact resiliently with the overlapping portions of the facing units. I

3. A siding assembly, as described in claim 1, the portion of the sheet material extending between the said overlapping portions of the facing units being imperforate and the means securing the facing units to the substructure being disposed behind the said portion.

4. A siding assembly of a building comprising a supporting substructure, facing units arranged in courses having overlapping portions forming horizontal joints therebetween, the edges of the facing units of the underlying course at the joints being provided with slots of longest dimensions substantially parallel to the general direction of extent of the said Joints, and fastening elements extending each through one of the said slots and holding one of the slotted facing units to' the substructure, whereby lateral movement due to expansion or contraction of the unit is permitted with a minimum of width of overlap required to coverthe said slot.

5. A siding assembly, as described in claim 1, the said water-impermeable sheet material being in the form of strips arranged horizontally in the assembly, having each an upper edge portion bent forwardly and downwardly and extending over the upper edge of a course of the facing units, a main portion extending downwardly behind the said course, and a lower edge portion terminating between the overlapping portion of the said course and the next underlying course of the facing units.

6. A siding assembly of a building comprising a supporting substructure, units of facing material arranged in horizontal courses having overlapping portions between the lower edge of one course and the upper edge of a lower course, and strips of water-impermeable flexible sheet material disposed between the supporting substructure and the facingunits, each of the said strips having an upper edge portion bent forwardly and downwardly and extending over the upper edge of a course of the facing units, a main portion extending downwardly behind the said course and forming a continuous sheathing between all parts of individual units of the said course and the substructure, and a lower edge portion bent backwardly and upwar'dly and hooked under the forwardly and downwardly bent upper edge portion of another of the said strips extending over the 2,116,452 upper edge of the imrnediately underlying course' of facing units in the said assembly.

7. A siding assembly, as described in claim 6, provided with a space between the bend of the lower edge portion of a strip of water-impermeable material and the edge of the bent upper portion of the other strip engaged by the" said bent lower portion of the first strip, whereby the strips hooked into each other at their edge porz tions may be shifted vertically with respect to each other.

' 8. A building assembly comprising a substructure, substantially planar facing units attached to said substructure with an edge of each succeeding unit overlapping the adjacent edge of the next preceding unit, and water-impermeable sheetsdisposed between the substructure and the units, each sheet being so arranged as to substantially cover the face of a unit on the side next to the portions of said unit with succeeding and preceding units, but not project beyond the overlapping portions on the exposed faces of said unit.

9. A building assembly comprising a substructure, semifiexible facing units disposed over said substructure with an edge of 'each succeeding unit overlapping the adjacent edge of the next preceding unit, water-impermeable sheet material disposed between the substructure and the units so as towcover the face of 'each unit on the side next to the substructure and extend between the overlapping portions of successiveunits but not project beyond the overlapping portions on the exposed faces of said units, and means located beneath the overlapping portion of each of said succeeding units for fastening the preceding unit L to the substructure and for flexing said preceding I unit to space its overlapping edge from the exposed face of the next preceding unit.

substructure and 'to extend between the lapping v GEORGE E. SHEWAY. 

